Charity, they say, begins at home. But while people in the UAE embark on a safe and secure Ramadan, the country is expanding its One Billion Meals campaign to dozens of nations and reshaping the programme into an aid commitment that will support the needy for years, not just the holy month.
This year’s drive, launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, will direct donations into endowment funds. From these, financial returns will be spent on feeding the vulnerable. The aim is to ensure the principal grows steadily, allowing vital aid to be delivered on a long-term basis.
It is an important and strategic switch that not only embraces the spirit of Ramadan but also works in tandem with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of ending global hunger by 2030. It also comes at a particularly critical time for millions of households around the world hit by rising food prices.
The statistics are daunting. The World Bank says about four fifths of low-income countries and more than 90 per cent of lower-middle-income countries have witnessed year-on-year food price increases in excess of 5 per cent in 2023. For many families on the breadline, this is 5 per cent too much.
And then there are those whose situation is even more precarious. In February, The National reported how the One Billion Meals campaign distributed 5.4 million meals to people living in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. This community, which is already enduring displacement, poverty and extreme danger, had its World Food Programme rations cut by 17 per cent this month, something described in this paper by Thomas Andrews, the UN special rapporteur, on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, as “unconscionable”.
Indeed, unconscionable is the right word to describe the sad reality that millions of people live a knife-edge existence while, according to the UN, the world wastes about 14 per cent of the food produced between harvest and retail. Ramadan, then, seems exactly the right time to take decisive action on world hunger, given the numerous verses in the Quran and hadiths that encourage philanthropy but also admonish the sin of wasting food.
A strength of the campaign since it started three years ago has been its accessibility. From its beginning in 2020 as a local initiative to support UAE communities hit by the coronavirus, it was designed to make it as easy as possible for people to donate. This year, money can be pledged online, either monthly or as a one-off donation. Donations can be made by text message through Etisalat or du, through the DubaiNow app or bank transfer.
Making donating as convenient as sending a text has allowed the drive to be an inclusive and participatory campaign, something reflected in the number of donors – both at home and abroad – it has attracted. In 2021 alone, its 185,000 donors included individuals and companies inside and outside the UAE.
It has been a remarkable three years. In 2021, the campaign provided food parcels and instant smart vouchers to millions of people across four continents. Last year's initiative supported the underprivileged and undernourished in 50 nations.
These are feats any charitable drive would be proud of but One Billion Meals has not only widened its scale, it has redefined its targets to combine strategic and practical action with the selfless spirit of the holy month. Ramadan may last for just a few weeks but this year’s campaign will lay the foundation for years of international aid work. Charity may begin at home, but this year it will also reach from the UAE to the whole world.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
What is an FTO Designation?
FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes.
It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.
Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.
Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.
Source: US Department of State
RESULT
Bayern Munich 0 AC Milan 4
Milan: Kessie (14'), Cutrone (25', 43'), Calhanoglu (85')
Specs
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The biog
Born: High Wycombe, England
Favourite vehicle: One with solid axels
Favourite camping spot: Anywhere I can get to.
Favourite road trip: My first trip to Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan. The desert they have over there is different and the language made it a bit more challenging.
Favourite spot in the UAE: Al Dhafra. It’s unique, natural, inaccessible, unspoilt.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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PAKISTAN v SRI LANKA
Twenty20 International series
Thu Oct 26, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
Fri Oct 27, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
Sun Oct 29, 3rd T20I, Lahore
Tickets are available at www.q-tickets.com
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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